Witnessed by: Western
Allspice (Pimenta dioica), of the Myrtaceae family. Evergreen aromatic tree of the myrtle kind with leathery leaves and small white flowers in cymes; native range: the West Indies, above all Jamaica, and the adjacent Central American mainland. Globally recognized as allspice · pimento · Jamaica pepper · clove pepper in English, pimienta de Jamaica · malagueta in Spanish, and Pimenta · Fructus Pimentae in Latin. The part used is the unripe fruit, dried. Small brown, roughly warted globes crowned by the ring of the calyx, brittle and easily powdered; the smell clove-like and the taste warm, pungent and aromatic, with a numbing tail on the tongue.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
ALLSPICE
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- allspice
- Scientific name
- Pimenta dioica (L.) Merr.
- Family
- Myrtaceae
Form
- Part used
- the unripe fruit, dried
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Western
- pungent · aromatic (clove-like, warm, faintly bitter)
Temperature
- Western
- warm
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- stomach · digestion · bowels
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Western
- aromatic carminative, stomachic, mild stimulant, and a corrigent and flavouring for other medicines; the oil is locally anaesthetic and antiseptic
Cautions
- Toxicity
- a kitchen spice in ordinary quantity; the concentrated volatile oil, rich in eugenol, irritates skin and mucous membrane and is not to be taken undiluted
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